The 36
The 36 is a bus service run by The Harrogate Bus Company using a set of Wright Gemini 3s. It is a contender for the most luxurious bus service in the country. Route The 36 runs from Leeds Bus Station through towards Harewood, past Harewood House then on into North Yorkshire where it meets the X52 and 747 services which it runs alongside to Harrogate Bus Station. The route takes it to Pannal and Hornbeam Park before arriving at Harrogate Bus Station. Then it runs up through Ripley before arriving at Ripon Bus Station. Fleet The Wright Gemini 3 is an integral double-deck bus manufactured by Wrightbus, with a Volvo D5K-240 5.1l diesel engine on the B5TL chassis. History Harrogate and District when they were owned by Blazefield Holdings had ordered new Wright Eclipse Geminis in 2003 which were some of the first Geminis to be sold. The new buses were placed in a black red and chrome livery with branding for the 36 route from Ripon to Leeds via Harrogate. These replaced Wright Renown, Volvo B10BLE and step entranced Volvo B10Bs with Wright Endurance and Alexander Strider bodies to other duties but later on with the current workforce's lives something was to happen. When 3601 was nearly new it was modelled by Corgi. In 2009, they were given the new style rebranding and the chrome lines had gone leaving a revised livery in place and the new style 36 logo. So later in 2010, the Gemini double deckers were to get a mid-life refurbishment, this meant a Plaxton President (numbered 2706) in a special grey livery for 'Ideas in Action' which meant that bus had a refurb which was to be seen on the Geminis. So later, it was discovered that the Geminis which entered service in 2003, are to be given new Wright Eclipse 2 front ends which usually can be seen on Wrightbuses which date back from 2008 onwards. The Geminis already had leather seats which made them look posh from beginning to end of their old state now they have new seats, new engine, new panelling all the way round, new axles, new and more quieter cooling fans which differ these Volvo B7TLs from most similar buses as the B7TL is well known to blast out the cooling fan noise. X1 VTD (then YJ53 CZY) was the first to be treated as it was the first to be temporarely replaced by also Yorkshire Coastliner double deckers which had 36 branding over the blue livery which was also stating that the buses were borrowed from Yorkshire Coastliner as the current buses are to be mechanically improved. In its early days, it was subject to be modelled by Corgi in its first livery in 1:76 scale but my favourite bit about this bus's current state was that the seating layout upstairs was 2+1 which reminded me of an Embraer 145 airliner I was on once. The 2+1 seating can also be seen on some of Arriva's refurbished Sapphire buses and the sole refurbished Plaxton President (B7 BVD) which covered for the 12 36 branded Geminis to be refurbished but that is now with Lancashire United. X1 VTD when new as YJ53 CZY, was on show at the Coach&Bus 2003 and was also seen in model form by Corgi as the model was released late 2004 with an incorrect all black interior as the bus should have red handrails inside rather than the front and another let down was the missing mural wall on the staircase which is still a common feature on the 36 branded buses. In the past, the 36 had always been a popular route as the 36 route used branded Leyland Lynxes, Alexander Striders and Wright Endurances which both had the Volvo B10B underframe, Wright Renowns for a short while, Alexander Royales (the only double deckers to wear the old style branding) and also the first ever Wright Eclipse Urban B7RLE was tested on this route and its still with Harrogate and District today. In late January 2015, these buses had their very first odd sighting on the Yorkshire Coastliner runs as 3606 was photoed on the 843. But Transdev's lust for radically improving buses is not over yet as some of Keighley and District's 10 year old Wright Eclipse Urbans have been unexpectedly going through a major overhaul with new seats and like with the 36 branded B7TLs, they're to be given new Wright Eclipse 2 front ends but by the looks of things, expect new skirt panels as well as I've seen pics of one of the buses already with the front on with skirt panels missing. Would have been fun if we saw this happen to the 36 branded B7RLE! During January 2016, the 36 branded double deckers were taken out of service as brand new Wright Eclipse Gemini 3s came and replaced all but 3613 and 3614 which are acting as spare buses for the Leeds routes 36, 770 and 771. Today, these older transferred Volvo B7TLs are still going but some have been sent to Yorkshire Coastliner for the new CityZap service serving a direct link between York and Leeds and the remainder have gone to Lancashire United for the new Red Express launch as the buses there wear a new blue and red livery whereas the CItyZap livery is the same style but its red and silver.